Telephone interview for children's librarian job

It's a suburban county system in a large metro area. Four person panel: someone from HR and three branch managers. At just 25 minutes, this is the quickest interview I've done, and to be honest, it felt rather rushed. Interviews of this type are more typically 45 minutes to an hour. I know I said 30 minutes for the last teen librarian interview, but I think I was underestimating. This time, I looked at the clock when I hung up because I was so surprised it was over already.

This is also the first time I wasn't given a choice of interview times. They sent me an email with the time and date of my appointment and I got to RSVP with a yes or no.

• Why are you interested in the position and how does it fit with your short and long term goals?


• What is your experience providing story times and children's programming? Please describe age levels and types of programs.


• Discuss your experience developing collections for children. How do you make selections, what is your area of expertise, and how would you market the collection?


• Promoting early childhood literacy is an important part of being a children's librarian. Give a specific example of something you have done to promote literacy. (They had an alternative question if you couldn't think of an example, but I didn't write that down and I can't remember what it was.)


• Describe a time when you had to deal with a discipline problem in the library.


• What experience do you have working with diverse populations?


• Give an example of your experience providing technology instruction to children and their parents.


• I also got to make a "closing statement" where I was asked to tell them what I knew about the library and why I would be a good candidate.